1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle traveling control system and a vehicle control device, and more particularly, to a vehicle traveling control system and a vehicle control device for controlling a local vehicle by looking up information from markers affixed to a vehicle ahead.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to ITS (Intelligent Transport System) or the like, for example, a method is proposed in which the speed of a local vehicle is controlled so that the distance to a vehicle ahead (hereinafter referred to as preceding vehicle) may always be kept constant, to thereby lighten the burden on the driver.
To materialize such control, it is necessary that the distance between the local vehicle and the preceding vehicle be accurately measured.
Conventionally, a method has been employed in which, for example, the parallax of two markers affixed to the rear surface of the preceding vehicle is optically detected to obtain the distance between the vehicles.
With this method, however, in cases where two vehicles are traveling ahead side by side, for example, it is likely that a marker of one vehicle and a marker of the other will be erroneously recognized as a pair of markers, giving rise to a problem that the control can possibly be performed erroneously.
Also, according to ITS, it desirable that individual vehicles recognize the traveling states of other vehicles to control the local vehicle in accordance therewith. To permit exchange of information between vehicles, however, a communication device needs to be additionally provided, giving rise to a problem that the cost increases.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle traveling control system and a vehicle control device which ensure high safety and yet are low in cost.
To achieve the object, there is provided a vehicle traveling control system for controlling a succeeding vehicle by looking up information from markers affixed to a preceding vehicle. In the vehicle traveling control system, the preceding vehicle has blinking means for blinking the markers according to a predetermined pattern, and the succeeding vehicle has imaging means for acquiring an image of light from the markers, specifying means for specifying images of the markers from within the image output from the imaging means, and validity determining means for determining validity of the marker images based on a blinking pattern of the marker images specified by the specifying means.
To achieve the above object, there is also provided a vehicle control device for controlling a local vehicle associated therewith by looking up information from markers affixed to a preceding vehicle. The vehicle control device comprises imaging means for acquiring an image of light from the markers of the preceding vehicle, specifying means for specifying images of the markers from an output of the imaging means, and validity determining means for determining validity of the marker images based on a blinking pattern of the marker images specified by the specifying means.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention by way of example.